A report by literary charity, Inclusive Books For Children, has found that Black representation in children’s literature is experiencing a worrying decline. The report which surveyed 2,721 children’s books found that only 51 of those titles featured a Black main character, showing a decline of more than a fifth (21.5%) between 2023 and 2024.
The report by Inclusive Books for Children (IBC) surveyed books published last year for readers aged one to nine. Of the 2,721 books surveyed, only 51 (1.9%) featured a Black main character, highlighting the “stark inequalities” in UK children’s publishing with this “catastrophic decline in Black representation”.
IBC also found that representation was low across a range of other identity groups too. Just 35 books (1.3%) featured South Asian main characters, despite 12.5% of children in English nursery and primary schools having South Asian heritage. Only seven books featured disabled main characters, with most created by non-disabled authors or illustrators, and only six books featured neurodivergent main characters. 21 books (0.8%) had East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) main characters, against approximately 2.6% of nursery and primary school children in England being of ESEA heritage
It also reported that about 6% of children’s books featured marginalised main characters, and just under half (49%) of those were created by authors or illustrators with lived experiences of these identities.
Marcus Satha, who co-founded IBC with his partner Sarah after struggling to find representative books to read with their two mixed-heritage children said that the recent report: “highlights the huge missed opportunity to show children, through high-quality, authentic storytelling, that everybody belongs and everybody adds value to society,”
Alongside this survey is news from The National Literacy Trust which reports that reading pleasure is also on the decline; with only one in three children aged eight to 18 saying they enjoy reading in 2025, a 36% drop since 2005.
Sarah Satha explained that IBC report’s findings are important because “we face a reading for pleasure crisis, and the narrow range of books hogging shelves is clearly not doing a good job of enticing a wider range of potential book lovers.”
Speaking previously about the lack of representation in children’s literature, The National Literacy Trust revealed that: “The struggle to find characters who look similar, or share similar characteristics or circumstances, can impact a child’s engagement with reading and its lifelong benefits. Just one book a child really connects with can spark a love of reading which can change their life story and help them to succeed in school and in life.”
